Cigarette extinguisher and ash receptacle unit



. Ian. 13, 1959 J. B. HINSON 2,868,213

CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER AND ASH RECEPTCLE UNIT Filed Aug. 12, 1955 m lo n Jrs 2 10 N 5l le i 512 S Qq 55 I 25 ze N la 25 4 l V1 INVENIOR. day 5 #www United States Patent() CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER AND ASH RECEPTACLE UNIT Jay B. Hinson, Hartsdale, N. Y.

Application August 12, 1955, Serial No. 527,988

2 Claims. (Cl. ISI-237) This invention relates to a cigarette extinguisher and ash receptacle unit and is herein disclosed in some detail as embodied in an extinguisher and ash receptacle adapted to fit into a purse or pocket. The device is of the type shown in applicants application Ser. No. 527,224, which became Patent No. 2,830,599 on April 15, 1958.

The invention is further disclosed as embodied in the form in which the cigarette is extinguished by pressing it against a pyramidal piece oflmetal at the bottom of a funnel-shaped member. Such devices have usually included a spring mounting for either the funnel-shaped member or the pyramid. Such devices have proved useful in the past, but have been open to various objections, including special objections when of a size suitable to carry in a purse and pocket. l

In some of those prior extinguishers, the spring mounting was open to the pyramid, or to its mounting in such a way that the cigarette ashes frequently clogged the springs. in other forms, a shield was provided for keeping the ashes clear of the spring, but this shield added weight and complexity to the structure so that a stronger and heavier spring was needed, because the spring frequently bore against the shield with considerable friction.

in almost every form of this sort of extinguisher, some or all of the parts were made of solid metal, cast or turned from brass or other metal bars, making the parts expensive and heavy. Such extinguishers, moreover, involved problems in assembling. i

In addition to these facts, several parts of the extinguisher were usually visible from the outside with the result that each part had to be finished with an expensive plating or other finish, so that, altogether, the extinguisher was relatively expensive for such a small device.

According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objections and diliculties are overcome, and a simple device of fewer and lighter parts and more easily assembled, is provided, and the device is so designed that only large outside surfaces are visible from the outside, and, therefore, no smaller parts need to be provided with an expensive finish.

The design of the device of the present invention enables it to be built out of very thin metal, well adapted to be drawn, and the more complicated parts may be readily stamped from thin brass and are concealed so as to need no special finish, and, moreover, take the place of parts hitherto made out of solid bars of metal.

In the form shown, the spring is kept clear of surfaces which would normally tend to create friction, because the helical spring tends to seat itself in a wide curving upper arched periphery of the funnel device and lies between the funnel surface and a vertical outer wall projecting downwardly from the curve.

In the form shown, the extinguisher proper is mounted on a flat base very slightly larger than the periphery of said outer wall, and the base is adapted to receive a generally cylindrical cover or hood which slides down over the outer wall of the funnel member and seats itself within the periphery of an upstanding wall on the base that carries the extinguisher proper. An internal deflector may cause the ashes to be guided so as to clear the spring.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear in the accompanying drawings.

Figure l shows the extinguisher open in vertical section.

Figure 2 shows the extinguisher closed as for carrying in a vanity case in transverse sectional View.

Figure 3 shows a section as seen from above in Fig. l position.

In the form shown, the extinguisher includes a funnelshapecl member 10 which normally stands above a pyramidal member 11 and which is adapted to be pushed down toward the pyramidal member 11 when a cigarette is' inserted in the funnel 10. The funnel 10 merges upwardly with a peripheral arched curve 12 which is fairly flat and then turns down into the vertical skirt or side 13 of the shell of the extinguisher proper.

In the form shown, the shell 13 is limited in upward movement by a bottoni piece 14 by means of an inwardly turned edge 15 at the lower end of the shell 13.

A pyramidal member 11 is mounted on a cross piece portion 16 of a bottom piece 14. As seen in Fig. 3, the bottom piece is cut away at opposite sides of the cross piece portion providing an opening 17 on each side of the cross piece adapted to permit ashes to drop through onto an ash receiving platform 18.

The bottornor member 14 is surrounded by an integral upstanding wall 19 which lies closely within the shell 13 but slides freely in the shell and carries prongs or tabs 20 cut out from the upper portion at several points in the periphery, and bent to form ledges. The tabs 20 in the form shown in Fig. l carry on their ledges a helical spring 21 which is kept away from the shell 13 by upstanding posts 22 which extend upwardly from the upper edge of the wall 19 between the tabs 21. The skirt has a turned in portion 15 at its lower end which limits upward travel of the skirt as shown in Fig. l.

The spring at its upper end lies in the apex of the arch or curve 12 so that the spring 21 stands clear of the shell 13 and the funnel-shaped member 10.

To give the cross piece 16 the desired strength, and yet have it stamped out of the thin metal, it is shown with turned over edges 23 which give it the requisite stiffness.

The structure thus described enables a cigarette while burning to be pushed down into the funnel 10 and carry the funnel down until the cigarette strikes the pyramidal member 11, which is preferably of solid metal and may have a cone shaped surface, extinguishing the cigarette and allowing the ashes to fall down through a flare shaped guide 24, so that they lie eventually,l around the center of the base plate 18. The base plate 18 supports the cross piece 16 which is shown as carried on a post 25 having a split upper end adapted to expand at 39 in a hollow 40 in the base of the pyramidal member 11 and preferably with a spacer 26 which surrounds the post 25 and underlies the cross piece 16 so that the post and spacer hold the cross piece and pyramidal member fast to the platform.

The platform 18 is shown as surrounded by an upstanding vertical Wall 27 very slightly larger in diameter than the wall of the shell 13.

To carry the device in a vanity case, it is usually closed by slipping a cover or hood 28 thereover, the cover having a diameter substantially that of the upstanding wall 27, and reduced at 29 near its open end 30 suiciently to enable the reduced portion 29 to slip within the upstanding wall 27 so that the wall 28 is substantially liush with the wall 27 on its outer face.

The hood wall 28 is of suflcient height so that it call t down over the curve 12, and when the reduced portion 29 comes to rest with its shoulder at the top of the wall 27, the pressure of the top 32 of the hood 28 carries the skirt 12 down so that the cross piece 16 and the pyramidal member 11 closes the Opening of the funnel 10.

This completely closes the device, but when the hood 2S is removed, the funnel member 10 rises leaving a rather narrow peripheral opening 33 between the turned up edge 15 and the top of the wall 27 so that ashes lying on the base plate 18 may be shaken out through the opening 33 with almost no tendency to carry the ashes into the spring 21, or into the space occupied by it, because the flared member 24 with an opening 34 of about onehalf or less than one-half of the radius of the platform 18,'diverts the ashes While the user is shaking them through the opening 33.

The hood 28 is shown as attached to the outside of the outer wall 27 by a chain of suicient length to allow the hood to be turned over and slipped down around the shell 13.

The deflector 24 may t closely around the base of the Wall 19 and be held to the cross piece 16 by tabs 37 projecting through slits 35 in the cross piece 16.

The above structure is extremely light because it can be satisfactorily built of aluminum or aluminum alloy 0.015" to 0.018" thick, or stainless steel, or parts may bemolded of thermo-setting plastic.

This extreme lightness, from some points of view is quite objectionable, and to give a semblance of weight, the at top 32 of the hood is usually provided with an internal coat of metal which may be solder 41 poured on while molten which hardens to a polishable surface. The platform 18 is likewise preferably provided with a similar coat of metal such as solder. A commercial co-ld solder, containing an aluminum base, is prepared in liquid consistency and has been proved satisfactory as it needs no heat and can be machined and polished, and one sold by Atomized Materials Company under the name of Kwik Metal has proved satisfactory.

The cover or hood is satisfactory if 3%; inch high and one inch outside diameter, so that the closed device is less than 11A; inches high, and correspondingly light. Moreover, producing the parts and assembling them are simple and economical steps.

The hollow 40 in the pyramid is preferably roughened on its wall, as by a roughly cut partial thread which is seized by the post 25 when tapped on the outer end to expand the split end.

Having thus described certain embodiments of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. A closable cigarette extinguishing unit, including a pyramid against which the cigarette may be pushed to extinguish it, a slidable funnel-shaped member adapted to guide the cigarette to the pyramid having an arch eX- tension having a downwardly directed cylindrical skirt, a base supporting the pyramid, an upstanding cylindrical wall located within the skirt and carried by the base and on which the skirt is slidable, a spring carried by the opstanding wall and adapted to be thrust upwardly against the apex of said arch, a depending wall extending inwardly from the upstanding wall and adapted to guide ashes centrally of the base, and an upstanding vertical wall rising from the periphery of the base and adapted to receive the skirt when the skirt is slid down within the vertical wall, said upstanding wall and skirt forming an annular opening around the skirt adapted to receive the cylindrical rim of a hood adapted to cover the skirt.

2. A closable cigarette extinguishing unit, including a pyramid against which the cigarette may be pushed to extinguish it, a slidable funnel-shaped member adapted to guide the cigarette to the pyramid having an arch extension having a downwardly directed cylindrical skirt, a post supporting the pyramid, a base plate supporting the post, an upstanding wall carried by the post located within the skirt and on which the skirt is adapted to slide, a spring carried by said upstanding wall and seated in the apex of the funnel and supporting the funnel, and an upstanding vertical wall rising from the periphery of the base plate of a diameter spacing it from the skirt when the skirt is depressed forming a peripheral opening around the skirt adapted to receive the cylindrical wall of a hood adapted to cover the skirt.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,143,463 Terwilliger June 15, 1915 1,320,037 Davis Oct. 28, 1919 1,764,862 Vogelsang June 17, 1930 1,873,029 Putterman Aug. 23, 1932 1,941,617 Neahr Ian. 2, 1934 2,038,350 Farinella Apr. 21, 1936 2,406,685 Hinson Aug. 27, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 29,464 Great Britain 1909 473,419 Italy July 28, 1952 545,899 Great Britain June 17, 1942 602,712 Great Britain June 1, 1949 

